Thursday, 28 November 2013

I am here to let you know that it is showcase day over on
the MilkCoffee Blog

and our theme this time is Christmas is Coming, and you know
what, it is! (Trying to contain ridiculously high pitched squeal of
excitement!!)

So today I have chosen to use the gorgeous Lisbeth
and Mr Deer available herea stunning image that begs to be
coloured so I was happy to oblige with my Spectrum Noirs.

I admit to being a bit nervous about attempting this; I mean
that is a lot of deer!! But my teamie Samantha did such an amazing job with
this image on a previous showcase (check it out on her blog here)
that I thought I would give it a go.

I created a wreath using Spellbinders Grand Scalloped
Circles and stuck Spellbinder poinsettias and glittered snowflakes all around
it. There are some All Occasions dies and Tonic punched snowflakes in there
too, somewhere!

Monday, 25 November 2013

(And by ‘Create a
Scene’ I don’t mean jumping up and down yelling and screaming and stamping your
feet! I’ll be the one doing that thank
you very much!!)

Hello, how are you keeping? Hope all is well with you and
yours and you are keeping warm.

Today launches a brand new
challenge over at the Cutie Pie Challenge Blog and our theme this fortnight is Create a Scene (please read
opening paragraph for clarification).

All we want you to do is create a background that goes with
a cute image in the foreground. So it could be a cloud background or grass and
flowers or even a snowy scene. As long
as you put your image within a scene you’ll be sorted. But don’t forget to include a cute character
in your design. The Cutie Pies live to see cute on your creations and I am
sorry to say that them’s the rules! Anyway if you are still a bit stuck pop
over to the Cutie Pies blog to see what my talented teamies have created
to inspire you.

This week we are
sponsored by the wonderful

and one lucky winner
will win a $20 voucher to spend in their online store.

So to my scene. Well
I recently bought a set of stamps from Hobby Art called CountryScenes available here and thought I would
play around with them to create a winter landscape.So, several ‘dress rehearsals’ later I came
up with this.

I stamped my scene onto Neenah Solar card and coloured it
sparingly with BG Spectrum Noirs, using 2 CT markers for the sun and IB1 &
HB1 for the sky.

I then used my so far un-inked Wild Rose Studio stamp Building a Snowman which I purchased hereand coloured with LV and TB Spectrum Noirs
(that super cute snowman is the reason I bought this stamp, luv him) and added
Pinflair Snow Dust to the little girl’s furry hat and coat.

Isn't that snowman just the cutest ever!!

I used a pre-scored stepper card (me and measuring and not
on speaking terms) and added some ripped pieces of Centura Pearl card to create
a snowy ground for the characters to stand on.

The papers are LOTV, the tree is a cut down Spellbinders die
and the snowflakes are an All Occasions die.

And there you are, a few gems and a liberal dose of Stickles
later and my scene is done!

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Now
I had heard of this technique but never tried it so I was keen to give it a
go.

So
this is what I made.

The
papers and sentiment are LOTV as is the gorgeous image which is called ‘Wedding
Couple’.

I
stamped the image twice and then from one of them I cut a small section (their
super cute little faces) using a Sizzix Framelits die. I then coloured it
in with Promarkers, backed it with a small edge of pink paper and then mounted
it onto the complete uncoloured image, which had been cut using a larger heart
die. I also drew on some faux stitching for added interest.

The
pearls and lace are from my stash and I took three long pearl topped pins,
coloured one with a Watermelon Flexmarker then attached on a few more beads to
'posh' them up a bit. I then tied a bow from white Silky Crush ribbon (my
absolute favourite) and stuck them into the knot.

The
pink roses and buds are created from a Britannia die and the white ones are a Sizzix
Bigz die.

And
there you are. Throughout the whole process (and even now) I couldn’t
stop singing “Going to the chapel and we’re going to get maaaaaaaried!” (A
song by the Dixie Cups).

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to those who
have taken time out of their busy days to leave me comments. I am so grateful for your kind words; they
are a huge confidence booster I must say, so thank you so very much.

Ok, so what’s going on today then? Well I am here to announce that it is showcase
day over on the MilkCoffee Blog and our theme this time is Shaped Cards (oooh ‘eck!).

Now I don’t do shaped cards that often. I have a lot of pre-scored square blanks and
I only own a couple of the larger dies to make my own so I struggled with this
a bit. My only option was to get out my
trusty EK Success Circle Scissor to make my base from Centura Pearl. And that’s as far as I got really. Until that is I got this little fella to work
with. He is called ‘Pilgrim Boy’ and he
is available here and he is the sole inspiration for this project. So you know who to
blame!

Now we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK (even
though I personally have an awful lot to be thankful for) so I had to do a bit
of research so I got it right.

And this is what happened.

Well to be honest with you I’m not too sure what happened! This card kind of acquired a life of its own
and I could do little to stop it. The whole harvest/Thanksgiving vibe just took
over.

I coloured ‘Pilgrim Boy’ with Spectrum Noirs on Neenah Solar
White card ( I love his hat and his buckled shoes) and cut him out. I then found a free pumpkin digi on-line and
printed it out twice on orange card and added some shading with pencils.

I used a brayer on my circle base to create a sunset with Rusty
Hinge and Dried Marigold DI, using a stencil to make the ‘sun’, then stamped a
flock of birds to add to the scene.

The leaves are various Spellbinders dies and the acorns and
twigs are made from a Martha Stewart mould and air-dry clay. I t was at this
stage that I had to hide my glue to stop myself adding any more to it! I ended up with more of a ‘sculpture’ than a
card but there you go.

Monday, 11 November 2013

And our theme this fortnight is Little Cuties, so that’s babies
and very little people. Now at this
stage I would be asking you not to forget to make your entries cute, but I
don’t see how they could fail to be cute with this subject matter!

Anyway, just in case Madam Mojo refuses to play along pop
over to the Cutie Pies blog and check out the wonderful inspiration
created by my teamies.

So what did I do?
Well I chose to use an image from our sponsor called ‘A Mother’s Love’
which can be found here.

As soon as I saw it I knew I had to colour it and that it
would be in greyscale. I even knew the
colour I wanted to go with it and how it would look! It happens like that sometimes, doesn’t it? The image and the card just design themselves
really.

I coloured mother and child with Ice Grey Spectrum Noirs and
cut then out using Spellbinders Floral Oval.
I also shaded around the image with Turquoise Tint Pan Pastel, which is not too
obvious in the photo I’m afraid.

The small flowers are cut from a Tonic punch and the larger
flower is from the SB Jewelled Flowers & Flourishes set.

I added pearls from my stash and cut a SB Ribbon Banner in
half (shading that with Pan Pastel too) and stamped my sentiment, which I
wanted to be simple and to the point.

And there you go, I hope I have done such a gorgeous image
the justice it deserves.

Monday, 4 November 2013

Today I would like to share a card I made for a friend of
mine who is a vintage film fanatic. Her
husband wanted me to make her a card that reflected her mild obsession with
movies of the 30’s and 40’s. So this is
what I came up with.

The 'pin' is a silver piece of Card Candi; looks multicoloured here though(?)

The image is from MilkCoffee and is called ‘Glamorous Tiffany in Her Night Gown’ . I thought she had the look of a black and
white movie starlet so I coloured her with my Promarkers in greyscale and made her into a photograph
pinned to a wall, well a piece of embossed and sanded Core’dinations to be
precise.

The 'autograph' is my untidy scrawl.

I printed the clapperboard and filmstrip free from the web,
stamped a script onto a piece of vellum and I made the roses using a Sizzix
Bigz die. The idea is that the roses are
fading and losing their petals. Not too
sure if that’s how it looks.